Friday, November 18, 2016

Two weeks ago today, I picked up my new 2017 Outback 2.5i Limited. It was flawless on delivery.

Have only 500 km on it so far, mostly just puttering around Mississauga with a couple of trips to Vaughn to visit daughter and granddaughter. No issues.

The Weathertec floor mats were expensive but took only a few seconds to install. They claim a 3D laser is used to measure the floor and area. By golly, the fit is perfect! Should do very well.

So far, getting about 9.8 l/100km. Still breaking in and am expecting better. Somewhat better anyhow. Since I drive so few km per year, I am not that fussy about saving money on fuel.

Have spent a lot of time figuring out the sound system. Now have 15 GB of my digitized CDs on a stick and the sound system does a fine job.

The Nav system is a bit of a disappointment. With my Garmin units on the bike and in Dianne's car, it is easy to find the nearest Tim Horton's or various other venues. Subaru does not use Garmin. Don't really know who they use, but the search is basically useless. No icons showing businesses along the route on the standard display, can search for a small subset but that is distracting and best done at a stop. At least the display is nice and large at 7". Street name lables are a bit difficult to associate with their streets. Worse, seems that the Google habit of labeling major streets with numbers rather than names inside cities has been adopted. I like to see Yonge St and not a badge with "11" in it. Traffic is via SiriusXM for some indefinite time. When the free service stops, no more traffic info. SiriusXM is unlikely to ever see a penny from me, unless one subscription would apply to my car and my bike too. Still, I am a fan of using GPS/

The adaptive cruise is great. Does not see red lights if no cars are in front of course. And, if cars are stopped at that light already, but I am bearing down on them, I need to treat that as in the red light sense or risk providing unwanted body work to the car last in line. And mine too.

High beam assist took a while to verify that it works. Driving on the Stouffville Sideroad a couple of nights ago showed that it works and works quite well.

Late November is often Fog Practice weather here in Southern Ontario. So, I should be able to test the fog lights soon.

All in all, very quiet, peppy, superb handling... . When the winter weather arrives, I may need to tell you more about the AWD and winter tires, but until then I am just going to enjoy the drive!